Former Ripon IT director gets six years in prison

A former information technology director for Ripon College has been sentenced to six years in prison for bilking the school out of almost half a million dollars.

Ronald Haefner, 54, of Mequon, was convicted of 10 of the original 64 counts of theft and fraud.

Fond du Lac Circuit Court Judge Robert Wirtz sentenced Haefner to a total of six years in prison on two of the counts followed by three years of extended supervision and three years probation on eight remaining counts. The rest of the charges were dismissed, but read into the court record.

According to a criminal complaint, Haefner was terminated from Ripon College in November 2013 after school officials discovered he had been making unauthorized furniture purchases. After officials questioned him about an antique furniture purchase Haefner admitted to a school vice president that he had lied and that the furniture was at his home.

Officials began looking at other items purchased by Haefner and discovered many Apple products, the complaint said. That was odd because the college does not primarily use Apple products.

As director of IT, Haefner had use of a credit card with a $5,000 monthly spending limit. He oversaw a $500,000 annual budget for purchases in the department.

Besides purchases allegedly made for himself and his family, there were items given to a former Ripon College president who is now president of Brevard College in North Carolina, according to the complaint.

The theft list totaled $428,972, but the actual amount of the embezzlement over many years is believed to be significantly higher, the complaint said.

Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney said the thefts appeared to be for personal profit and that much of this “appears to be built on the backs of students at Ripon College.”

Toney said he believes Haefner took advantage of Ripon College and lied to the former Ripon college president.

The investigation involved a number of agencies including the state Department of Justice.